It is a sad day for Indian Railways: Dinesh Trivedi

A day after the CBI arrested railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew for accepting Rs. 90 lakh in bribe, former railway minister Dinesh Trivedi on Saturday expressed his sadness over the case.

Claiming it to be a 'sad day' for the Indian Railways, Trivedi said to CNN-IBN, "The system is rotten and without corruption it is hard to get promotion."

He emphasised that Bansal should explain his position in the bribery case.

On asked whether the minister should step down from his post, he said, "Leave it to Pawan Kumar Bansal's conscience if he wants to continue."

Senior agency officials said Bansal's nephew V Singla was arrested in Chandigarh for accepting the money from Manjunath, an alleged middleman for railway board member (staff) Mahesh Kumar, who was seeking “a lucrative posting”.

Kumar was arrested at the Mumbai airport soon after he arrived from Delhi. He allegedly wanted the position as member (electrical), which falls vacant on July 1.

The deal was allegedly struck for Rs. 2-crore and Rs. 90 lakh was the first instalment.